Andhra CM invites investment for capital city's development

Visakhapatnam, Jan 27: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday invited investors to partner with the state in development of new state capital Amaravati.

He told the Partnership Summit 2017, which began here, that he wants to develop the Greenfield city of Amaravati as one among the best five cities in the world.

Naidu invited investors to look at the vast opportunities in Amaravati, which will not be a mere administrative centre but an economic city.

He told the delegates from over 40 countries that under land pooling system for development of the city, farmers came forward to give 35,000 acres of land worth Rs 40,000 crore.

Pointing out that the state has 1,000 km long coast with deep water ports, he said the state government was developing a port-led economy.

Naidu said centrally located sunrise state with huge mineral wealth, strengths in technology and skilled workforce offer vast investment opportunities

Describing Visakhapatnam as the best city in the country, he urged the investors to look at the opportunities in the coastal city or in Amaravati or Tirupati.

He said within a short span of two-and-half years, Andhra Pradesh achieved number one ranking in the country in ease of doing business.

"I want the state to be one among the top 10 in the world," he said.

He told the delegates that during 2015-16, the state recorded growth of 10.99 percent against India's growth rate of 7.5 per cent. He said during the first half of the current financial year, India grew at 7.2 per cent while the growth in Andhra Pradesh was 12.23 per cent.

He said at the last year's Partnership Summit, the state signed 328 memorandum of understandings worth over Rs 5 lakh crore and to generate employment for 10 lakh people.

Out of 927 projects, the state cleared 659 projects with an investment of Rs 2.82 lakh crore, creating 4.15 lakh employment opportunities.